


The Haunted Brewery

by Shaymed



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 16:21:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17267390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaymed/pseuds/Shaymed
Summary: Merry Christmas to Kerlaana!I was her Secret Santa for an exchange hosted by B.R. Soule. <3





	The Haunted Brewery

The sun beat down hot on the otherwise peaceful farm in Halfhill. Leiandre straightened to pop her back, using the hoe in in her hands to push back. She wiped her brow and sighed at the plants still wrapped in choking weeds. Her lips pressed together in frustration before she leaned her tool against the nearby wheelbarrow and went to the tavern, ordering a cool glass of water to fight off the exhaustion.

A pair of demon hunters entered; the one with cracked, darker skin and purple hair turned her fel-fire eyes to the woman on the bench. She observed the horns gracing the night elf’s brow, took her drink, then sat opposite the tired farmer.

“I was beginning to think my sister and I were the only ones exploring the parts of the world we’ve missed in the past decade,” she said. Then she stopped to really look at the woman. “I’m Palti,” she said slowly, holding her hand out.

“Leiandre,” she replied. She took the hand with a careful consideration of the demon hunter’s scrutiny. “I’m not one of you.”

“Zak,” Palti called her sister over, “what do you make of this creature?”

Zakuro’s blindfolded gaze swept over the night elf ears and the white eyes; over the horns and the strange tentacles dangling behind her ears. “Halfbreed?”

“What a delightful little monster,” Palti said.

“I’m not a monster,” Leiandre growled.

“Are you sure?” the demon hunter pressed.

Zakuro sat beside her sister and sipped her cold glass of milk. “How did the night elves react to your appearance, hmm?”

Leiandre said nothing, just cast her gaze to the glass of water cupped between her palms.

Palti reached across the table and took one of the purple hands in her own. “Monsters have to stick together. Come. We’ve need for a third companion.”

“I’m tending my garden,” she said. She pulled her hand away and blinked at the water.

“It’ll be there when you return,” she insisted.

Leiandre pursed her lips at the two; Palti was smiling with a devious encouragement; Zakuro patiently sipped her milk as though nothing concerned her. The huntress trained her gaze on the blindfold of the green-haired sister and a chill ran up her spine. Her sights returned to the fangy grin.

“Will I be compensated?”

Zakuro chuckled darkly. “Is that a yes?”

Leiandre licked her lips and slowly nodded. “What’s the job?”

The sisters exchanged a glance; Palti gave a devilish smirk.

“The locals say there’s a haunted brewery nearby. We figured we’d go inside and see what all the fuss is about.”

“You’re not afraid of ghosts, are you?” Zakuro asked.

Leiandre made to reply, but instead just pursed her lips at them. “Of course not,” she said after a minute. “Let me get my things and I’ll meet you back here?”

The sisters nodded in unison and the woman got up, leaving her half-drunk water on the table. The two were waiting outside when she returned to the inn, her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder as she buckled on a bracer. They made little conversation as the three walked along the river path, Leiandre’s hooves grinding into the gravel as the demon hunters’ boots softened the terrain for their feet.

The two dressed in seemingly the bare minimum, both in bottoms so short they may well have been their underwear. Zakuro wore a harness that only just kept her breasts in place; Palti opted for a high-necked wrap of white and brown leathers that left her midriff just as bare as the other demon hunter’s. The chains of the purple-haired sister’s belt clanked together down by her knees. Leiandre fastened a buckle on her cuirass as though assuring herself she wasn’t overdressed for the occasion.

_At least I’m not exposed to being maimed._

Palti looked over her shoulder, craning her neck around the wing-shaped glaives locked together in a heart shape at her shoulders. “You can walk with us, you know.”

“We don’t bite,” Zakuro added.

“Well, she doesn’t.” Palti chuckled.

“That’s debatable.”

They stopped at the front door of the brewery. Palti set her palm over the wood and a devilish smirk twisted her lips. “They say even the bravest warriors can go mad in here. Sometimes you can even hear their tortured spirits screaming into the night, warning others away.” She cocked an eyebrow at Leiandre. “Are you sure you’re…equipped for this?”

“Just a few specters, right? No problem.”

The demon hunter opened the door and ushered the other two inside. Just then a shriek echoed from one of the upper levels—a scream of fear. The door slammed behind them and Leiandre gripped her bow and narrowed her eyes in the darkness.

“You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” Zakuro whispered, her breath tickling the hunter’s ear.

Palti laughed and breathed green flames into a row of lanterns, then handed each woman one. “To keep the monsters at bay.”

“I thought we were the monsters,” Leiandre said.

The sisters chuckled and led the way deeper into the building.

“A few years ago, hozen and virmen got in here and made it their home. Some adventurers came in to clear them out. They said there were…” Leiandre paused as she peered into the distance at what looked like two blue glowing eyes in a dark corner. She blinked and they were gone.

“What?” Zakuro followed her gaze.

The huntress shook her head. “They called them alementals. Beer monsters.”

Palti laughed. “I’d love to make friends with a beer monster.” She crouched to look under a row of kegs. “Come out little alementals!” she cooed gently. “Hmph. Guess not.”

The three made their way slowly until they reached a dark room hidden near the back of the second building. Zakuro set her fingers to the knob and a scream rang from behind the aged door. The two stood back, but Leiandre charged in, an arrow nocked and her bow drawn. She blinked at the frosty blue eyes blinking up at her.

“Sometimes you just have to scream,” the death knight whispered. A wide, manic grin spread across her dark lips. “I’m Alisbeth! Hi!” The blood elf jumped up to force hugs upon each, though the demon hunters resisted.

“What are you doing here?” Zakuro asked, eyeing Palti as the other began searching through drawers.

“Screaming. What are you doing here?”

The sisters shifted and Leiandre blinked at them. “What _are_ we doing here?”

Palti licked her lips, then sneered. “None of your business.”

“Why…did you bring me, again?”

“To feed you to the banshee, of course,” Zakuro said. She shoved the hunter onto Alisbeth and held out her hand as Palti tossed her a dusty tube.

Leiandre ran to catch Zakuro, but Palti vaulted over their heads, landing in a pulsing ring of fel fire.

“Guess we didn’t need you after all.” She breathed a torrent of flames at the floor, separating the two pairs by a wall of fire.

Alisbeth held out a palm and sent freezing sleet at the flames. “I’m not a banshee. I’m just good at screaming.” She held out a hand to lift Palti into the air, where the night elf flailed and scrabbled for air.

Leiandre took the queue and shot a trap under Zakuro’s feet as she tried to flee. The trap sprung and ice surrounded her ankles, holding her in place.

“Damn you, little _brats!_ ” Zakuro screamed. She began chipping at the ice with her glaive.

Leiandre ran forward and snatched the tube from the demon hunter, then sprang backward. “Come on!” She shouted to Alisbeth, using her momentum to propel her faster forward toward escape.

Alisbeth skipped along behind, humming a soft tune. “This was super fun,” she said once they were out the door.

“What _were_ you doing in there?”

“Screaming,” the death knight repeated with a shrug. “What’s in the tube?”

Leiandre popped the cork on one end and pulled out a scroll, then read it quickly. “It’s the recipe for the secret Stormstout ale… The ale that comes to life. She wanted an alemental?”

“I want a beer monster!” Alisbeth said excitedly.

“Right… Come on, we should go.” Leiandre led the death knight back to Halfhill, the recipe tucked carefully in her pouch. “Thanks for helping me back there.”

“It’s what friends are for!”

The huntress blinked at her. “We just met.”

“Doesn’t mean we can't be friends.” Alisbeth hugged the woman one last time, then took off running down a different road. “I’m gonna punch a rodent!”

“You do that!” Leiandre laughed and returned to her garden shed to remove her armor. She smiled, despite knowing the two demon hunters would likely return to find her. She looked at the scroll one last time and sighed at the contents. “I’ll have to return you to Chen, won’t I?” She smirked and grabbed her hoe, eying a vine wrapped around a melon. “But first…”


End file.
